App developers must focus on creating fresh, original content rather
than parroting existing ideas in order to stand out, says an Australian
developer whose app has just been named one of Apple’s best of the year.

The list comes just as Google released its long-awaited Maps app, after being banished by Apple in favour its infamous home-grown option. The app has rocketed straight to number one on the most-downloaded list.

The annual Apple list of best iOS apps includes a number of
Australian apps, including Virgin Australia Flight Specials, Sydney Food
Trucks and OzTV, developed by young programmers Alex Johnston and Jeff
Tan-Ang of Apps Perhaps.

Getting mentioned on these lists has become increasingly important,
as developers struggle to stand out in the burgeoning app market.

Johnston told SmartCompany this morning the apps which tend
to get noticed allow users to create, or at least consume, original
content that hasn’t been copied.

“When I look at the apps this year, one thing that stands out to me
is that apps which have content seem to do extremely well,” he says.

He points to the Apple app of the year – a program that allows users
to add special effects to their video clips. “It really ticks all of
those boxes,” he says.

“You have the ability to create content, but it comes with content
itself. Certainly, I know when we’ve made and shared videos with the
app, people enjoy seeing what we’ve done.”

“If you’ve got content that isn’t currently available, or you put a
spin on it that people will find interesting, then it’s going to stand
out.”

Johnston has identified a number of trends in this year’s winners,
including minimalist design – like the bare-bones structure seen in a
reading app like Pocket – or more social elements like in the Pinterest
app.

Another big trend this year has been free-to-play, Johnston says.
Many games and apps will offer the initial program for free, and then
encourage users to buy small upgrades that only cost a minimal amount
that builds up over time.

“I think Apple this year has been more selective in what they’ve
chosen to award,” he says. “Previously you’ve seen the apps be awarded
in each category, but you can see themes that have appeared this year.”

Usually, Apple awards the best apps based on a category, but this
year Apple has chosen its own, such as “free to play”, “discover with
friends” and “photo and video magic”.

As for OzTV, Johnston’s television guide app, the developer says his
team’s effort to include a social layer may have earned them a mention
in this year’s awards.

“We’ve tried to do that in a way that gels with the experience of the
app, and we didn’t try to make a social app, but something you could
use and then share with your friends.”

“I think it helps we don’t have any affiliations to any of the major
networks and we’re not trying to promote any sort of agenda.”

Hidden gems

The original map resource for owners of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod
Touch has returned, with Google bringing the power of its maps back to
iOS.

Ever since iOS 6 debuted and Apple gave Google Maps the flick, in
exchange for its own mapping platform which it worked on with TomTom,
people have made fun of Apple’s maps. They’re often wrong, don’t show
detailed information, and generally feel less reliable than what was
previously offered when Apple used Google’s.

It’s probably not hard to see that the iOS 6 maps were nowhere near
as ready for prime time as Google’s own, which have years of development
behind them, compared to what was revealed for iOS.

In fact this week, Victorian police actually urged people to be more
careful when using iOS 6 maps after people became stranded in the Murray
Sunset National Park while trying to reach Mildura.

Samsung took advantage of the situation this week (above) with a
little four-wheeled drive promotional stunt outside various office
blocks in Australia.

Regardless, this week, iOS users can get their feel of the proper
Google Maps, at least on iPhone and iPod Touch devices, with an app now
available through the App Store that brings it back, and even logs you
into your account to find your older maps.

It won’t actually replace your own iOS maps app, so if you’re looking
to make it your proper mapping system, just move your iOS 6 supplied
one to a folder somewhere and put this in its location.

Now that the iPhone 5 is here, it was only a matter of time before reviews came pouring in. Expert opinions are one thing to give a perspective about the phone but the true details come from regular users who talk about how the phone feels when they use it on a daily basis to make calls and send messages and the like. While there have been some impressive reviews about the phone and its performance, there have been several complaints from consumers. There appear to be issues that are common to all owners while a few of them seem sporadic but it is worth reading anyway.

For starters, the screen on the iPhone 5 received a lot of favorable reviews as it appeared to be more durable than the ones on its predecessors but the back and the sides of the phone are more prone to scratches. This seems to be a common problem and it is best to avoid placing the phone next to keys and the like. Moreover, the delicate exterior seems to have been damaged in the shipping as several owners complained of phones with scratches immediately after unboxing. The internals of the screen seem to be causing some sporadic problems. Air bubbles are a common issue while flickering is also reported by many. One flaw in design is that the light from the screen is leaking out from between the phone and the power button, something not many are impressed with.

A serious connectivity issue that a lot of users are facing happens to be the phone’s ability to connect and hold WiFi connections. It appears that the iPhone is not very good at connecting to background networks or even detecting them in some cases and a lot of the phones fail to hold on to the network after working for a while. Moreover, the WiFi networks aren’t being used to their full extent as internet on the phone is quite slow with them.

Build issues continue to pour in and one of the common but trivial ones is that the iPhone is not heavy enough and this results in difficult handling. Apple prides itself in the fact that this is the lightest phone it ever built but it could be a little heavier and sturdy according to people who have had the phone slip through their fingers.

The wait is finally over and the iPhone 5 is here. It's thinner and lighter than before, connects to Vodafone's 3G+ network and is fully compatible with our new 4G (LTE) network rolling out from early 2013.

iPhone 5 Unboxing (Australia)

After an hour and a half in line at the Optus store we now have our hands on the iPhone 5 White 16GB. In this video we give you a quick look at what to expect inside the box. One downside that we did notice was that there was no lightning to 30 pin adapter in the box as promised by Apple.

Is This the iPad Mini?

Alleged photos of Apple's 7-inch tablet surface on Chinese and French sites. Looks like - you guessed it - a slightly shrunken iPad.

Like it or not, Apple is pretty much definitely building a 7-inch tablet, speculatively termed the "iPad mini" by tech bloggers. (In fairness, that sounds better than iPod Touch MAXX.) While it could be weeks or months before we know for sure whether or not the name stuck, looking at recently leaked pictures at the French site NoWhereElse and the Chinese site Bolopad, it certainly fits. The "iPad mini" looks almost exactly like Apple's latest iPad, only smaller.

Either this is a 7-inch tablet or this guy's hand is HUGE.

Here's what we think we know:

The iPad mini will have front- and rear-facing cameras. It will feature Apple's new "Lightning" dock connector, and the same wake/sleep, volume up/down and home buttons, and mute/lock orientation switch as its larger cousin.

It also looks like the bottom of the case, on either side of the dock-connector, will have perforations for better sound output. You'll be able to buy it in white or black, because this is Apple. And there appears to be a small hole an inch or two above the Apple-logo on the tablet's backside.

Here's what we don't know:

What's that little hole on the backplate for? We have no clue. Also, there's no way of telling for sure what the resolution of that 7-inch screen will be (though it will probably keep pixel density above 220ppi to hang onto the Retina moniker). In both series of photos, icons for Youtube and Google Maps make it pretty obvious the tablets in these photos aren't running iOS 6, which means we're probably looking at mockup display.

And of course we don't know what Apple will try to cram inside. Will it get the latest iPad's A5X processor or the iPhone 5's A6? Will it be priced to under-bid Microsoft's 10.6-inch Surface tablets or to compete more directly with the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD 7"?

Given two separate, consistent leaks, we do think these photos show an actual iPad mini - at least the frame. But there's a lot they can't tell us. Like, maybe most importantly, when will it hit the market?

As TechCrunch points out, it makes perfect sense that Apple waited to announce the iPad mini till it was sure it wouldn't steal the iPhone 5's spotlight. And given that we've already heard about the big iPod refreshes and iTunes update, it would also make sense for Apple to announce the device in lieu of its customary October music event.

The way to get Google Maps on iOS 6

You need to accept and allow if a user facing alert relating to permission to track the current location is provided by the interface. It's not necessary to grant this permission. However, without doing so, the service won't be able to provide anything that relies on the device location for example, routing.

Step 2: From the middle of the toolbar at the bottom of Mobile Safari, press the action button and choose 'Add to Home Screen' option from the list.

The system will create a quickly accessible bookmark when this option is selected with the given web address and will be added to the home screen of the device to be invoked like a standard app.

Give to desired name to the bookmark and choose ok. The home screen will appear again on the device and an icon of Google Maps would be created. Press it to open, just like all other apps, and enjoy the Google Maps experience on iOS 6.

This is a good option for those who are not doing well with Apple's new native maps. So you can use mobile Google Maps site and add it as a bookmark to the home screen on your iDevice running iOS 6. Some native options are still there, including getting directions and routines and what's the location of the device, making it quite useful.

Right on schedule, after going through four beta versions, Apple today released iOS 6, a major and free update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The iPhone 5 will ship with iOS 6, while owners of older iOS devices can download iOS 6 software update via an over-the-air (OTA) or through iTunes.

iOS 6 is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, third- and fourth-generation iPod Touches including iPod touch 5G, iPad, iPad 2 and ‘The New iPad’ (iPad 3). As usual, users with older iOS devices remain on older versions of the system software. The build is marked as 10A405 for iPhone 5, 10A406 for iPod touch 5G and 10A403 for rest of the iOS devices.

Apple announced iOS 6 and seeded to developers at WWDC in June bringing more than 200 new features with enhancements to its digital voice assistant. Among the new features are a totally redesigned Maps app, a revamped Mail app and tight Facebook integration. iOS 6 is considered as a next generation update that enables developers to implement thousands of new APIs to take advantage of Apple’s latest technologies in their apps.

Why Should I update to iOS 6?

Siri: Coming on iPod touch and iPad - Apple has extended Siri support to the iPad and iPod Touch but specifically only on iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation).

It can now do sports scores, stats, standings and schedules. Enhancements to data on restaurants, in-Siri reviews from Yelp, reservations and lots more. Siri knows movie theater listings, integrates with Rotten Tomatoes reviews and trailers. Siri digital assistant can even launch apps: “Play Temple Run.” With iOS 6, new languages support has been added – English/French forCanada, Spanish for Spain/Mexico/U.S., Italian, Korean.

Phone Updates: Call Me Later - With iOS 6 installed on iPhone, in addition to answering and declining a call as usual, you can now press a button to reply with a pre-defined or custom message to call them back later.

When you’re near Starbucks, card pops up. Cards are live too and if airline gate changes, virtual boarding pass will alert you.

Why Shouldn’t I update to iOS 6?

Jailbreak developer, BigBoss has called the latest iOS 6 mobile operating system as ‘a total dud’ which is more like an incremental update iOS 5.1.2 rather than a feature-rich upgrade. Since Apple has removed YouTube and Google maps, jailbreakers have two more reasons not to update their jailbroken iOS devices to iOS 6. Those who inadvertently update will get Apple maps with no street view, no transit directions.

iPhone unlockers and those preserving their unlockable basebands ‘must’ stay away from installing the iOS 6 update. Since most of the jailbroken applications and apple’s official apps are still not supported; it is advisable to stay away from the update. Unlocker and jailbreakers are advised to save 5.1.1 SHSH blobs. Once 5.1.1 stops being signed, you will NOT be able to downgrade from 6.0.

Up until now, the iPhone 5 has only leaked either as parts or as a dummy model. And although a working model has never made it out into the wild, M.I.C Gadget now claims that a genuine iPhone 5 was slipped out of Foxconn‘s Jicheng factory and was caught on camera. While the purported device does appear thinner, slightly taller and has what appears to be a larger display, the mysterious iOS 6 boot-up message, sketchy-looking slope on its left bezel, chintzy home button and additional hole next to the relocated FaceTime camera suggests the device could just be an elaborate hoax. Is this iPhone 5 real or is it fake? Take a look at the “leaked iPhone 5″ video down below.

A Vietnamese tech news site published images of earphones that it speculates will come with the new iPhone this month.

With the iPhone 5 expected to make an official debut in the next few weeks, the rumors and pictures are hitting a fever pitch. The latest, from Vietnamese tech news site, tinhte.vn, offers images of earphones that it speculates could accompany Apple's next wave of devices.

Of course, it could be earphones from a third-party, rather than Apple, or another rumor that won't pan out. Apple isn't telling.

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